THIS season’s finally over, and Liverpool have finished 7th in the league.
But it’s perhaps more important now to maintain a bit of continuity in the side with regards to the performances of those who have been doing well, and this on top of further developing those who’ve been found wanting.
This seems a bit reminiscent of the end of the 2010-11 season when the Reds finished in the strongest possible manner under Kenny Dalglish, yet didn’t even manage to reproduce half of that attacking flair or conviction in their play when the new season began in August again that year.
Brendan Rodgers will have his work cut out as well. On the one hand, he has to inspire the entire team to be more consistent and especially solid at the back. At the same time, he has to try and ensure the likes of Philippe Coutinho and Daniel Sturridge don’t end up proving a flash in the pan, when next season begins.
One of the mistakes Kenny Dalglish made at the end of that season 2 years ago was that he meddled too much with that squad, and in areas where perhaps stability was needed more than ever. Raul Meireles let go, Dirk Kuyt’s place in the side given away for almost nothing, and Maxi Rodriguez suddenly relegated to the fringes despite finishing the season extremely strongly.
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Mind you, Rodgers has shown that same trait in the way Andy Carroll was sidelined last year after finishing the season before extremely well and topping that with a decent performance for England in the European Championships as well.
Planning ahead for the future is all too well, but you can’t keep slicing people’s wings off mid-flight. It’s the worse way to lose confidence, while it also sends out the wrong kind of message to the newcomers who suddenly get gifted a place in the starting 11 over more established players.
This summer, new players may come in and perhaps Andy Carroll may return as well. No one should be guaranteed anything apart from a fair consideration when deciding on the team-sheets based on performances in training.
Luis Suarez has been brilliant this season, but imagine if he manages to keep up his momentum when he does return from suspension. It will be hard for the Uruguayan, sure.
But if he does pick up from where he left, if that’s complemented by Sturridge and Coutinho continuing with their classy shows, backed with good wingplay from the likes of Stewart Downing and Raheem Sterling. If two quality wingers either get brought in, or one of the current fringe players gets turned in to a decent winger, the possibilities could be endless.
But there are a number of pieces that need to be forced right in to place over the summer.
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lfc…need mature players,if we are ready for top 4 next season,.
This summer Rodgers needs to ship out these 8 players along with the great loyal retiring servant Carragher . 1: GK: B Jones 2: RB: Flanagan
3: CB: Coates 4: CB: Wilson 5: DM: Spearing 6: RW / RWF: Assaidi 7:FD: Borini 8 :FD: Pacheco
Those 8 players are simply average and not of Liverpool class and Quality and need to be moved on as soon as possible.
And A Carroll(23) should be recalled to side and given a fair chance to shine at club, he could be our plan B in attack as Plan A does not always work as we have found out this season against the likes of Stoke, West Brom, Reading, Southampton and Everton. Carrolls physical and Aerial threat against the more physical sides in the league would be an asset we could use to our advantage.
Then hopefully our club come to some agreement with Ooredo Qatari communications and then club would get a huge injection of cash brought into club. And Rodgers needs to be backed heavily with £80-£120M in the summer and JanuaryTransfer windows.
Then B Rodgers should bring in 12 players between this summer and the January Transfer window to get club back amongst the elite sides in Europe: To Change Squad DEPTH:
Six Defensive players: To strengthen back line within Squad: Cost : £28-£48M
1: GK: A MCcarthy(23) Of Reading for £2-£6M to compete with Pepe
2: CB: M Richards(25) Of Man City for £8-£15M to compete with Skrtel
3: CB: A Williams (28) Of Swansea for £7-£10M to compete with Agger
4: CB: A Pearce(24) Of reading on free transfer to compete with every centre back.
5: LB: S Umtiti(19) Of Lyon for £5-£8M to compete with Enrique
6: DM: E Capoue(24) Of Toulouse for £6-£9M to compete with Lucas.
Six Attacking players: To Strengthen attack within squad: Cost : £44.5M- £56M
7: RW/ RWF: C Tello (21) Of Barcelona should be brought for £8.5- £9M to compete with Sterling and Ibe Next season
8: LW / LWF: D Capel(25) Of Sporting Clube De Portugal/ Sporting Lisbon for £5-£8M to compete with Downing.
9: CM: J D Guzman(25) Of Villareal for £5-£7M to compete with Allen, Gerrard and Henderson.
10: AM: Munian(20) Of A Bilbao for £14-£16M to compete with Coutinho, Shelvey and Suso .
11: FD: L Remy(26) Of QPR for £6-£9M to compete with Carroll, Sturridge and Suarez. so club can have 4 good class quality strikers at club.
12: FD: G Agbonglahor(26) Of A Villa for £6-£8M to compete with Carroll, Remy, Sturridge and Suarez
Those 12 players would cost the club £72.5M to £104M
Those 8 players out and 12 players in would change whole dimension of squad and get club back amongst the elite, there would be at least two class quality player competing for every position at club and then every player will be kept on their toes and performing to a high standard all through season.
No ones position would be safe and that is what the Great Liverpools in the 80?s had and were like.
And the Squad would have good class quality competition and depth all over squad: And alot of pace, speed throughout the squad:
This is how squad would look with those 8 players shipped out and the 12 players shipped in:
GKS: Mccarthy and Reina RBS: Johnson, Kelly, Wisdom
CBS: Agger, Pearce, Richards, Skrtel and Williams LBS: Enrique and Umtiti
DMS: Capoue and Lucas CMS: Allen, De Guzman, Gerrard and Henderson
AMS: Coutinho, Munian, Shelvey and Suso RWS/ RWFS: Ibe, Sterling and Tello
LWS / LWFS: Capel and Downing FDS: Agbonglahor,Carroll, Remy, Sturridge and Suarez
GK: Pepe Reina, McCarthy, Peter Gulacsi
RB: Glen Johnson, Martin Kelly, Andre Wisdom
DF: Martin Skrtel, Daniel Agger, Yaya Toure, Ashley Williams
LB: Jose Enrique, Lucas Digne, Jack Robinson
DM: Lucas Leiva, Joe Allen, Sebastian Coates, Connor Coady
RW: Stewart Downing, Hatem Ben Arfa, Fabio Borini
AM: Phillipe Coutinho, Steven Gerrard, Cristian Eriksen, Jordan Henderson, Jonjo Shelvey, Sanz Suso, Joao Texeira
LW: Raheem Sterling, Oussama Assaidi, Jordan Ibe
Striker: Luis Suarez, Daniel Sturridge, Andy Carroll, Adam Morgan
Cristian Eriksen will be our Marquee signing, Ashley Williams and Yaya Toure the solid CB, Lucas Digne a quality backup to Enrique and Hatem Ben Arfa with proven premier league experience.
Coates needs to be tested as a defensive midfielder in cup matches
L’pool need to sell Danny Wilson, Dani Pacheco, Jay Spearing, Brad Jones
Did Liverpool really have a strong finish ?
I don’t think so
The last 7 games record sounds OK just . 3 wins 4 draws and 0 losses
But…
The wins were totally expected against Fulham Newcastle and qpr
1 decent draw against Chelsea …and 3 insipid poor draws against Reading Westham and Everton
Not a strong finish that
If stoke had those results they would say ‘ yes strong finish’
If spurs had them they would be disappointed
So Liverpool ??? We should expect better
Hear hear!
Have you not heard boys ? Rodgers and his fanboys are having a open top parade to celebrate the great 61 point season
If Begovic is available, Reina can go to Barcelona with Tello coming in. Get Eriksen, Hatem Ben Arfa, Benteke, Diame and Ashley Williams. Carroll should leave permanently with the likes of Spearing, Wilson, Borini and send Coates, Pacheco, Assaidi, Yesil, Adam Morgan and Suso on loan to play regular football.
Strong finish ??? LOL !!!